Yule's Chapter 5

In Yule’s, chapter 5, we learn about the sound patterns of language. For example, one thing I learned about was phonology. Phonology is what describes the patterns of speech sounds in a language. It helps us differentiate the meaning in sounds that we say and hear.

Also, in Chapter 5, we learn about phonemes and how by substituting one phoneme for another changes pronunciation and meaning. But if we substitute one allophone for another changes only the pronunciation. In addition to this, Yule’s also teaches us about aspirated sounds. He says that an aspirated sound is the sound that is pronounced with a stronger puff of air.

Lastly but not least, we learn in chapter 5 about phonotactics and open and closed syllables. The phonotactics are the permitted arrangements of sounds which obey constraints on the sequence and ordering of phonemes in a language. On the other hand, an open syllable ends with a vowel, as nucleus, and a closed syllable ends with an consonant, as coda.

Another thing we learned about in chapter 5, that I am still having a bit of trouble differentiation, is minimal pairs and sets. A minimal pair is when two words are identical in form except for a contrast in one phoneme, occurring in the same positions, such as pat and bat. While a minimal set is when a group of words can’t be differentiated, each one from the others, by changing one phoneme, such as feat, fit, fat and fate.